mil ward



(No Model.)

. MI-LWARD. Machi r Polishing N. as. No. 236,904; P'aten an. 25,1881.

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1%W M MM NJHERS, PHOYO-UTHUGRAPHER, WASHINGTON. D c.-

.(No Model.) 4 Sheets-Sheet 4.

V e 'V MILWARDe Machine for Polishing Needles. No. 236,904. Patented Jan. 25,188l.

STATES PATENT OFFICE.

VICTOR MILWABD,QF REDDITGH, COUNTY OF WORCESTER, ENGLAND.

' "MACHINE FOR POLISHING NEEDLES.

' SPECIFIGATIONfOrming part of Letters Patent No.236,904, dated January25, 1881.

Application filed July 19, 1880. (Nomodel.) Patented in England October27. 1875.

To all whom z't may concern:

Beit known that I, Vrcron MILWARD, of

" the firm of Henry Milward & Sons, of Redchinery for Polishing Needles,(for which I have received Letters Patent in England, No. 3,725, datedOctober 27, 1875,) of which'the following is a specification.

' My invention consistsof the construction and combinations hereinafterdescribed of the parts of machinery for polishing needles.

The polishing machinery consists of a series of slow-rotatingcarryingrollers,situated side by side, by which the needles are carried throughthe machine, in combination with a reciprocating carrying plate or tablesliding backward and forward at right angles to the advancing motionof'the needles, for supporting and rotatin'g'the needles, and with aseries of polishing rollers or buffs for polishing the needles. Theacting portions of the polishing-rollers work-through slots in thecarryin g-plate, a polishing-roller being situated between twofeeding-rol lers. By the operation of the feedingrollers, reciprocatingplate or table, and polishing-rollers the needles are carried throughthe machine,rota-ted, and polished.

I feed the needles to the front pair of feeding-rollers by means of anautomatic feeder, consisting, essentially, of a reciprocating hopper, inwhich the needles,in layers, are placed. By the forward motion of thereciprocating hopper the bottom layer of needles is carried through aslot at the front of the feeder, and is fed between a roller and anarrow bar or plate with a knife-ed-ge,fixed to the base-plate of thehopper, onto the reciprocating plate of the polishing-machine;

Having explained the nature of my invention, I will proceed to describe,with reference to the accompanying drawings, the manner in which thesame may be carried into eflect.

Figure I represents in plan,F ig. II in transverse vertical section, andFig. III in side elevation, partly in longitudinal section, a machinefor polishingneedles constructed according to my invention.

The automatic feeder constituting part of my invention is represented inFig. I combined with the polishingmachine; but the said feeder will behereinafter fully described with reference to the enlarged views of thesaid feeder shown in Figs. IV, V, and VI.

The same letters of reference indicate the same parts in Figs. I, II,and III.

a is the bed-plate of the machine, to which the uprights b b areaffixed. These uprights, besides carrying the polishers or buffs, alsosupport the frame 0 0 in which the series of carrying-rollers c 01 0f 9h t j k k is supported. The ends of the said carrying rollers turnfreely in their bearings, and have a slow rotatory motion given to themin the manner hereinafter described. The said feeding-rollers aresituated side by side, as represented in the drawings. v

Z m no are four polishing rollers or buffs, situated below the saidfeeding-rollers, a polishing-roller being situated between twofeedingrollers. (See the section, Fig. 11.) The polishing rollers orbuffs l m n 0 work in centers in the ordinary way, and are driven at ahigh velocity by guts-or bands passing over the driving-pulleys l m n 0p is the reciprocating sliding plate or table on which the needles aresupported as they are carried through the machine, and by which, inconjunction with the feeding-rollers o d e f g h ij 70 76 a rollingmotion is given to said needles. The said reciprocating sliding plate ortable 19 works in a dovetail, p, on the bed-plate of the machine, andhas a slow motion given to it, the said plate or table 19 movingbackward and forward at right angles to the advancing motion of theneedles-that is, the said plate or table 10 moves sidewise to thefeeding and polishing rollers, or in the direction of the axes of thesaid rollers. Slots or openings are made in the reciprocating slidingplate or table 19, through which slots the acting parts of the polishersor buffs Zm n 0 work. (See the cross-section, Fig. II.)

Ais thefeedin g end of the machine, at which any desired kind of feedermay beapplied; but I prefer to use the construction of feederhereinafter described; and B is the delivering end of the machine, atwhich the polished needles, as they issue from the last feeding orcarrying roller, are received in a receptacle placed at the said end forthat purpose.

The movingparts of the machine are worked by the following mechanism:The polishers or 5 buffs l m n 0 are driven by guts or hands workingover the pulleys l m n o, as before described. The feeding-rollers c (Icfg h ij is k are driven by worms q q (or a long worm) on an axispassing across the machine, the said worms gearing with worm-wheels r ron the ends of the said feeding-rollers. The shaft or axis of the worms1 q is driven from the driving-shaft .9 through the spur-gearing t u .r.

The reciprocating sliding plate or table 1) is worked in the followingway: On the driving shaft 8 is a crank, 1', upon the crank-pin r ofwhich the connecting rod or link r works, the inner end of the said rodor link beingjointed at 1: to the reciprocating plate or table 1), asbest seen in Fig. Ill. 1 do not limit myselfto the working of the plateor table p by a crank and connecting-rod, as represented, as otherequivalent mechanism may he used.

The action ofthe machine is as follows The needles to be polished arefed, by preference, by the automatic feeder represented at the end A tothe first feeding-roller, (I. The needles are received on the carryingor supporting reciprocatin g plate or tablep, between which and thefront pair of feeding-rollers, c d, they are seized and carried to thefirst polisher or buff, 1, the needles having a rolling as well as anadvancing motion given to them by the movement of the said sliding plateor table 1) under the rotating feeding-rollers c (1. Before the needlesleave the roller 11 of the front pair they are seized between the secondpair of rollers, ef, and the carrying plate or table 1), by which theyare rotated and advanced to the second polisher or bufi", m, and in likemanner are carried in succession to the third and fourth polishers orbufl's, n and o, and delivered by the last pair of feeding-rollers, k7:, into a receptacle at the delivering end B of the machine. By thecombined operations of the reciprocating plate or table 1) andfeeding-rollers every part of the needles is, by the rolling andadvancing motions which are communicated to them, brought under theoperation of the several polishers or buffs before the said needlesleave the machine.

The direction in which the needles are carried through the machine isindicated by the arrows in Figs. 1 and II. It will be readily seen byreference to the section Fig. II how the needles, before they leave oneof the feeding-rollers, are seized by the next roller, so as to carrythe needles through the machine.

Although I have represented amachinecomposed of ten feeding-rollers andfour polishers or bufis, in combination with the reciprocating plate ortable, yet I do not limit myself to that number of feeding and polishingrollers, as a greater or less number may be combined to- 65 gether inthe manner represented.

The machine represented may be modified by making the plate or table onwhich the needles are advanced and on which they are supportedstationary and giving the frame supporting the carrying-rollers ato-and-fro motion. By the reciprocatingniotion of the feeding-rollersthe needles on the fixed plate have a rolling motion given to them asthey are carried through the machine.

My improved automatic feeder is represented in plan in Fig. I incombination with the polishing-machine, and detached, drawn to a largerscale, in Figs. IV, V, and VI, Figs. 1V and V representing transversesections, and Fig. VI an end elevation, of the said feeder. It consistsof a reciprocating sliding hopper, a, in which the needles to be fed arecontained, having a rising and falling front plate, a", and a rotatoryfeeding-roller, I), working under the part 62 of the fixed bed-plate c.The hopper a is filled with needles in layers, the said layers crossingthe hopper in its shorter direction. The said reciprocating hopper a isfixed to the slide a, which works in a dovetail on the bed-plate c. Onthe part c is an incline, c. The under side of the fixed part c issituated at a higher level than the bed-plate 0, so as to form apassage, e, between them, through which passage the needles from thehopper a are fed between the roller 11 and the under side of the saidpart c. The movable front plate, a, of the hopper travels up the inclinec on the part c when the said hopper makes its advance motion to feedthe needles. The said plate a works independently ot' the other part ofthe hopper, and is pressed down by springs a a These parts of the layersof needles in the hoppera. (above the bottom layer, which is being fedto the feeding-roller b) situated at the front of the hopper also travelup the incline c of the plate 0 and prevent obstruction to the feedingof the bottom layer of needles. In Fig. IV the hopper a is representedat the end of its backstroke, the heads of a row of needles beingrepresented bearing against the back plate, a, of the hopper. By theadvance of the hopper in the direction indicated by the arrow the lowerlayer of needles passes through the opening at c, and is seized betweenthe rotatin g roller b and the fixed plate 0 as illustrated in Fig. V,which-represents the hopper at the end of its advance stroke, and by themotion of the said roller 1) the layer of needles is carried to thefront pair of feeding-rollers of the polishing-machine. As thereciprocating hopper makes its back or return stroke in a directioncontrary to that indicated by the arrow the bottom layer of needles inthe hopper takes the place of that layer last fed, and so on, a layer ofneedles being fed forward at each advance stroke of the hopper. Thereturn or back stroke of the hopper is effected by means of the arms 9g, to which a rocking motion is given by the rocking shaft h under thefeeder, the said rocking shaft h being worked by the lever i, acted uponby the cam k on the cam or driving shaft n. The upper ends of therocking arms g g are slotted, and

in the said slots the crank-pins Z 1, attached to the dovetail slide aof the feeder, work. The advance stroke of the reciprocating hopper a iseffected by coiled springs m, attached to the rocking arms 9 g and tothe fixed framing of the feeder. The cam shaft n is driven by a gut orband passing over the pulley p and the feeding-roller I) is driven fromthe said shaft-n'by the toothed wheels g r s Having now described thenature of my invention and the manner in which the same is to beperformed, 1 wish it to be understood that I claim as my invention 1.Machinery for polishing needles in which the following parts arecombined, namely: a series of slowly -rotating carrying-rollers, bywhich the needles are carried through themachine, a carrying plate ortable for supporting and rotating the needles, and a series of polishingrollers or buffs situated below the said carrying plate or table,through slots or openings in which plate or table the acting portions ofthe polishing rollers or bufi's work, the said carrying plate or tableand carryingrollers having the one a reciprocating motion with z 5reference to the other, and the several parts of the machine beingarranged and operating substantially as hereinbefore described.

2. An automatic feeder for feeding needles to polishing-machines,consisting of a reciprocating sliding hopper having a rising and fallingfront plate, in combination with a fixed inclined part upon which therising and falling front plate works, and a rotating feedingroller, theseveral parts being constructed and operating substantially ashereinbefore described.

VICTOR MILWARD. Witnesses:

GEORGE SHAW, RICHARD SKERRETT, Both of N o. 37 Temple Street,Birmingham.

